Sunday, August 31, 2008

I do love a 3 day weekend. Let me tell you that the break is long over due. You ever get to that point where things start to slip a little bit while you're really busy? That's what this past week was like for me. I know that I have HG administrative stuff to do today, like add people to "In the Mix" so they'll receive the newsletter. I have a few friends who are newly pregnant and I need some thank you cards for upcoming shows. Also, mom's birthday is Tuesday and I need to make a card for her. I think I'll send her the card I made for the TCP birthday challenge. That one can be from the kitties. I still needed one to send from Kev and I, so I inked up Cakeabella and whipped up this little number.

This paper from Basic Grey is awesome and I love that you can use so many different colors for the background. I colored her with my SU! ink and blender pens and outlined her with my Prisamacolor gray marker. I also had to try out my brand new SU! scallop punch. I got is yesterday and couldn't wait to try it out! It is AWESOME!!

So, I have a confession to make, when I started perusing different stamping sites and spending WAY too much time on Splitcoast Stampers I saw the My Favorite Things stamps and I didn't really get it. (Where were their heads?) I completely understand though, I am not by any stretch of the imagination an artist. I can barely draw a stick figure. Maybe their first artist was really good at drawing bodies and that became their thing. I get it. But I must watch too many shows on discovery health and I started to wonder what they were hiding. Was it a hideous deformity? Covered in warts? Two heads? Could they be cross-eyed? (Yep, WAY too many shows...)

Well, they recently released this new set, Totally Witchin'. And I saw some ADORABLE cards! The one that pushed me over the edge was this one. The "Wicked" theme did it for me. Seriously, If you haven't seen the show/heard the soundtrack, it is a must see!!

I digress, I made this for a friend of mine who's been having a crappy time at work. I have a few other things for her, so I hope it will brighten her day!

(Check out the little black card holder. I got it at World Market today for $4. Muy Convenient..

Here's another one from last night. Heck yeah! Look at me being crafty on the long weekend! This one was super simple. I had this black/gold sparkle paper that I've been saving for Halloween and it makes a super cute background. The pattern paper is from the new SU! catalog. The sentiment and ghosts are from Whipper Snapper Designs. I stamped the ghosts with Versamark and embossed them with clear powder. I think it makes them look extra spooky. :) The bat brads are from Archiver's and on clearance a few months ago. Gotta love a good sale!

Well, I think that's enough for now. I'm pretty sure I've DVR'd the lady with half a body. Off vege on the couch!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

After a lovely dinner out, I ran home to make some sort of treat for a potluck tomorrow evening. We need to leave immediately after I get home from work, so the makin' was happening tonight. I had a beautiful dream of Brownie Pie... mmm gooey and pie. (I had one left that I'd hidden away for just such an occasion.) I drove home in the middle of a giant thunderstorm, ran in the house (nope, no umbrella) and realized that I was out of pie crust. Poo! I did not want to leave again so I ran upstairs to check my stash.Perfect!! I seem to remember some peaches hidden in the freezer! YEAH! I don't have to run to Food Lion! A while ago, (OK, so it might have been last year's peach season), I nicely sliced them up and stuck them in the freezer for just such an occasion. I start digging around looking for the peaches. I move a box of pre-made hamburgers (gross, why do we have these?), and about 150 red freeze pops (neither of us like the red ones, why do we keep them? not really sure...) and I find...GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!! HOLLY COW! How did I not know they were in there???!!! Sweet, cookies for me, cobbler for the people.

Let's see what I need, milk, fruit and butter.Open the door to get the butter and milk and...What you don't see is Titus frantically batting at the drawer. He does this EVERY time we open the fridge. Not sure why, I think he's a little OCD. It doesn't matter what's in the drawer, bottled water, apples, can of Slimfast... He's not picky.

OK, defrost the fruit, (I actually used about 3 1/2 cups of peaches)Then melt the butter and pour it into a 9x9 pan. Yes, an entire stick of butter in the pan. If I were making this for myself, I would use something a little less fattening, but since it's going to a Potluck, butter it is!*Handy tip to make people think you're an awesome cook when taking dishes to an event - use the full fat version of the ingredients. I know, cringe, cringe, but seriously, butter tastes better and it'll make your dish taste better. Of course this isn't an option if you're going to an event full of people with dietary concerns. BUT, if there are a bunch of foods to choose from, chances are, any one person will only take a small serving. Even butter is good in moderation!Open the Homemade Gourmet package and combine it with 1/2 cup of milk. Mix it together and pour over top of the melted butter. Then, take your fruit (peaches) and spoon them on top of the batter, Make sure they cover the top and are in the corners of the pan. DO NOT mix everything together! As it cooks, the batter will cook up and around the fruit!Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes and....

MMMM... all ready for tomorrow evening! I'll cover it with foil and tomorrow before we leave I'll pop it in the oven at 350 for a few minutes to heat it up. Nope, not bringing ice cream but it would be tasty on top!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Part of the reason I wanted to start blogging was to show off some of the wonderful Homemade Gourmet products. I've been a consultant for a little over a year now and I absolutely LOVE the products. I started out as big fan of the line and after a while, I decided to take the plunge and start my own business.

I was first introduced to Homemade Gourmet almost 5 years ago. I was at a bridal expo with a friend of mine and a consultant had a table set up with samples of the Basic Sweet Bread (still one of my very most favorite products!) and the Basic Cheesecake mixes. I was hooked! Now comes the sad part... after I finished what I'd bought, I promptly forgot the name of the company. Yep, for almost 2 years. (Memory, not so good.) Then I was driving along and saw a sticker on the back of a car that said "Homemade Gourmet." I was SO excited and yep, you guessed it, I forgot the name by the time I got home. (I now keep a pen and paper in the car for just this reason.)

A few months later ran into another consultant at a craft show and THIS time I wrote it down, the rest as they say, is history.

Homemade Gourmet has a really great statement that pretty much sums up their purpose, it's, "to provide the products and ideas that makes today's home cooking easy for people with busy lifestyles." Sounds pretty good, right? That's part of the reason why I fell in love with the line. I am NOT a cook by any stretch of the imagination, but with Homemade Gourmet everyone thinks I am. :)

So, I wanted to start showing how easy it it to prepare our products. Tonight I made the brand new "Three Cheese Garlic Biscuits". I hadn't tried them yet and decided to use DH as a guinea pig.

All of the dry ingredients come in the bag and all you have to do is add the wet!

One of my favorite features, the instructions are on the inside flap!Look at all I needed to make these biscuits! Just some water and cheese!

OK eagle eyes, yes the recipe calls for 2/3 cup of water and I have 1 cup here. I noticed it after I took the picture, but I did follow the recipe. As for the cheese, yep there's a little extra. (I like cheese!)

Voila! A quick bake in the oven at 375 and this is what you get! Why the little pile of butter you ask? Well, that's to drizzle over the fresh biscuits. You could use margarine or spray butter as well. That's what I did but DH used the butter. These were super tasty and would be great in the morning as well! We had some leftover ham and DH made little ham biscuit sandwiches!

Yesterday after much deliberation, I painted our upstairs bathroom yesterday. For those of you who know me, you know that painting is NOT my forte'. I believe that I am genetically incapable of painting without covering myself head to toe in paint. The genetic thing comes into play because my father is the exact same way. I guess it's conceivable that things like that can be passed on from generation to generation. You could get mom's nose, grandma's chin or dad's inability to paint. Now mom and brother, they don't have a problem. They emerge from a perfectly painted room without a drop of paint on either themselves or the floor. I don't get it. I opened the can yesterday and immediately had paint on my foot. Hey, I'm not meant for manual labor, leisurely pursuits are more my speed.

The good news is that I've accepted my disability and have learned to adjust my life to deal with it. People who lose one sense compensate by over-developing another, right? Well, I've done the same thing. For me, "adjusting" involves Jeff who routinely comes and paints rooms for us. (He comes to the house with a roller, a 2 inch brush and a sheet for a drop cloth. No tape, no nothing, it's all free hand. I don't get it...) Well, DH was away at an all day work thingy so I decided to try my hand at painting a bathroom. I am proud to say that the walls are now covered with "Lion's Mane" colored paint from Behr. (So is the tub, sink and toilet.) Later today I have big plans to clean the paint off the places where it doesn't belong and put the tp back in the roll. Voila! ready to go!

In the mean time, I whipped up this little card for me. I like him and I think it needs needs to live in my cube at work.

This is Zot from Starvingartistamps. Their creatures always give me a chuckle. I thought the sentiment from inkadinkao matched perfectly. I used SU! Blue Bayou and Pumpkin Pie to color him. Yep, this one's all mine...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I swear, I spend all week thinking of awesome blog posts but then I have to do random stuff when I get home and can't put my awesome creativity on "paper". Blah, blah, blah, make dinner, do laundry, clean the bathroom. Yick!

I wanted to make a real quick post before I get ready to go to dinner. I was a terrible slacker and am JUST now posting my TCPTUES card. Hey, I finished it before next Tues right??? This week's challenge was to make a card using blue and orange. Yes, I know they are contrasting colors on the color wheel (as taught by my HS art teacher). But if you can't throw convention to the wind on a card, where can you?

I was reading the local weekly paper which posts all sorts of Indie and alternative things to do and I saw that the Cowboy from the Village People was one of the hosts at the Gay and Lesbian film festival last weekend in Raleigh. (Told you I was behind...) The picture was straight out of 1978 and I wondered if that was the last time he had a publicity photo taken. I mean really, it's been 30 years, weren't you even at a birthday party or something? Then again, it's nice that he gets work, seriously, he wasn't a "real" cowboy so what did that leave him after the disco era ended? Huh?? I just didn't see him with a whole lot of marketable skills. Now the Policeman and the construction worker, they thought ahead.

I even drew on the 1970 molester moustache and a little chest hair. Then I put chocolate chip Stickles on his hat. You certainly can't be in the Village People without a glittered hat. I also thought that "Hey Buckaroo" was a statement that might be overheard in a bar where gentlemen with glitter cowboy hats would hang out. :)

I should apologize to Alma at the Cats Pajamas, I'm sure this wasn't what you envisioned when you designed this guy, but I couldn't help myself..

Monday, August 18, 2008

I got some really cool stamps from Eat Cake Graphics a while ago. Their people and animals are too dang cute.

This chicken is REALLY excited or someone goosed him. Not sure which but he needed to go on my card. The sentiment is from Starvingartistamps. I colored him with some SU! markers. Pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Many of you may not know this but my DH is a man of many talents. This semester he's teaching college, directing a church music program and acting as the chorus master for the local opera company. Crazy! I'm not sure when he'll have time to breathe over the next few months.

The opera in question is Carmen and after accepting the post, asked me if I knew the show. (I am NOT an opera girl, not a bit, musical theater sure, but opera, nope.) So I scoured my brain and replied,

Sure! I remember the orange from Sesame StreetKev: Huh?(OK, it's conceivable that he missed it, not all of us were glued to PBS as kids. Heck, when there's only 13 channels and 1 of them has Sesame Street, The Electric Company AND 321 Contact which would you watch?)

Me: Yeah, the orange rolled out of the fruit bowl and gathered a sponge for hair and a rubber band for her mouth. She sang and when she hit the high note her face flew off.Kev: That's the most horrific thing I've ever heard. If I saw it, it gave me nightmares and I've blocked it from my memory.Me: Wus... 2 year old me slept just fine.To celebrate a time when Mister Snuffalapagus was still invisible, Mr Hooper ran the store and Bert and Ernie were just 2 really good friends splitting the rent... Here you go.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Let's post some pictures! These have been up for a while on my Splitcoast gallery, but you know what? I think they look even better now!

Ha Ha! This is Buck Eye Bob and he's from Starvingartistamps, their Tropics set. Their quirky images ctrack me up and their sentiments are the best! My favorite from the set is, "Look at me with your good eye." HA! I colored him in with my SU ink and blender pens. Darn those things are handy!

How about asome past entries for TCPTUES? Yep, every Tuesday there is a Cat's Pajamas Challenge and you could be named the "Swanky Stamper of the Month".

Saturday, August 16, 2008

It really looks like I'm a blogging fiend with 4 posts today. Seriously, the first 2 were cut and pasted from my other, now defunct blog. The thoughts were good, might as well post them!

I live in the Triangle area of North Carolina and we are smack dab in the middle of a bunch of major universities and colleges. I guess the summer has flown by and I didn't realize that it was move-in day for all of the schools. I was mid-way through my trip to Target (cursing under my breath about the crowds of people) when I realized what was going on.

The crowds and the cars on the highway packed full of gear had me feeling a little nostalgic. We loaded up the Chevy Astro van 15 years ago and drove me off to college for the very first time. It really doesn't seem all that long ago.

Here's to living in the dorm for the first time and finding out how weird your roommate is. Here's to all nighters, endless re-runs of the Cutting Edge, O Fries at 2 in the morning and smoke breaks in front of Amos Hall. Here's to sorority rush, the first mixer of the year and carrying the standard to the first Pitt Panther's game.

Again, I feel So dang smart today for being able to figure out the camera. Seriously, we've had it for a few years and I have NEVER been able to get it to work properly. Imagine my joy (and my DH's as well!) when I took a decent picture! Woo hoo!!!

So, I was half watching the Olympics and making some cards at the same time. I realized that my Bellas hadn't been inked up in a while and those girls were screaming to be let out! Here's a cosmobella which by the way, is my first and still favorite Bella. (I got her and winobella at the same time, huh... sense a theme?)

Isn't she adorable? I used my snazzy new blender pens to color her in.

I was on a roll today with the camera, I had my natural light, had my cards out, camera was snapping away then...

Not interested in the card, just the paper it was sitting on... Thanks Titus.

Well, I finally took the plunge and joined the blogging community. I thought about it for a LONG time and debated the pros and cons. Did I want to be one of those people who jumped on the blog band just because everyone else has?? Mom always asked "If your friends decided to (insert awful thing that sounded REALLY cool as a 10 year old) would you do it as well? Being the adorable and oftentimes precocious child that I was, my answer was more times than not YES! I guess a little of that still remains today.Seriously, I observe things and feel compelled to comment on them. I think that sounds like a great starting point for a blog. I'm also a Consultant for Homemade Gourmet and I think my blog would be a GREAT place to show off our yummy products. If that wasn't enough, I recently started stamping and card making and have been inspired by some of the super cute blogs I frequent.Shhh... Can I also confess that I have been a little jealous of the blog candy so many stamp sites give away? I couldn't play with no blog. Now....I hope you enjoy!

(I cut and pasted my 1st 2 posts from another blog. I tried out another site, (I won't name names, but Blogger really seems a lot friendlier for a beginning blogger)

Part of the reason I wanted to start blogging was to display some of the cards and paper crafts I've been making recently. I'm not what you would call, "camera inclined" is that really even a term? If not, I think I'll start a new trend. So please forgive the quality of the images while I try and figure out how to use the darn thing. Anywho, there are a few really cool sites I frequent and they have provided me with mucho inspiration. A really neat place is Splitcoast Stampers they have tons of great pix and you and create your very own gallery. With no blog, my creations have been living there. You can check out the my gallery, it's ljn162.While perusing through the site I came across some really cute stamps by The Cats Pajamas It was the "think drink" stamp that pushed me over the edge. A little thought bubble with a martini inside. Oh, how often has that same little bubble been floating above my head? (It was today at about 10:45am, I know, a little early but pretty appropriate at the time. You really had to be there.)OK, so every Tuesday they host a challenge and at the end of the month they choose a winner and crown that lucky person the "Swanky Stamper of the Month" How awesome is that? I think there should be some sort of flashing button or hat you get to wear to commemorate. :) (I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to all of the ladies who gave me suggestions on taking a better picture! I'd been having a HECK of a time getting them to look half-way decent and finally check out my new and improved photos! I think I'll go retake all of my old pix and repost them! HOORAY! I feel smart today!)

About Me

Hi all! My DH and I live with our 3 cats in NC. I work FT as a sales trainer and I began paper crafting almost 3 years ago and wanted a place to show off all my "stuff". Here you'll find card makin's, pictures of stuff I see and my thoughts and observations on a wide variety of topics. Enjoy!